Hi all. It's time for my week-long, just-once-a-year-I-swear pitch for financial contributions to the blog. If you enjoy (or some other verb) this blog on a regular or fairly regular basis, please consider what the blog is worth to you on an annual basis and give accordingly. In making this pitch, I'm pledging that the blog will continue to be here for your enjoyment (or some other noun) for at least another calendar year, with a new post up by 9:00am (usually by 12:01am) every day, as usual. I'm in my ninth (!) year of writing about the puzzle every single day, and while there are occasions when the daily grind gets a little wearisome, for the most part I've been surprised by how resilient my passion for solving and talking about crosswords has been. It's energizing to be part of such an enthusiastic and diverse community of solvers, and I'm excited about the coming year (I have reason to be hopeful … mysterious reasons …). Anyway, I appreciate your generosity more than I can say. This year, said generosity allowed me to hire a regular guest blogger, Annabel Thompson, who now brings a fresh, youthful voice to my blog on the first Monday of every month. So thanks for that. As I said last year, I know that some people are opposed to paying for what they can get for free, and still others really don't have money to spare. Both kinds of people are welcome to continue reading my blog, with my compliments. It will always be free. I have no interest in cordoning it off, nor do I have any interest in taking advertising. I value my independence too much. Anyway, if you are so moved, there is a Paypal button in the sidebar, and a mailing address here:

Rex Parker
℅ Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton NY 13905

And here: I'll stick a PayPal button in here for the mobile users.

I assume that worked.

For people who send me actual, honest-to-god (i.e. "snail") mail (I love snail mail!), this year my thank-you cards are "Postcards from Penguin"—each card a different vintage Penguin paperback book cover. Who will be the lucky person who gets … let's see … "Kiss, Kiss" by Roald DAHL? Or "The Case of the Careless Kitten" by ERLE Stanley Gardner? Or the Selected Verse of Heinrich HEINE? It could be you. Or give via PayPal and get a thank-you email. That's cool too. Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just say so. No problem. Anyway, whatever you choose to do, I remain most grateful for your readership. Now on to the puzzle …

• • •

Wow, this was easy. Even for a Monday, easy. Cluing was very straightforward and the theme is essentially a non-theme. Starting with "S" and ending in "P" … so, five unrelated things. Oh, sorry, six. I forgot about SLAP. Couple of things about this theme: it's an old concept, this breaking STOP into three parts. When I've seen it done before, it has involved a letter change (i.e. turning "S" to "P," to wacky effect). I don't think I've seen this interpretation of the S TO P concept before. I don't know what to say about it. There it is. I do think the theme density, particularly up top, gets you into some fill problems. I mean, stacking those two themers gives you an overlapping succession of letters that are not that fill-friendly. Ends -TD. Ends -AI. Has -NP- in the 3 & 4 spots of a five-letter answer. Probably lucky to get out of that mess with ERL as the only atrocious bit of fill. On a Monday, I think ERL, ALAE and OAKIE are all pretty much unacceptable. Like ERL, OAKIE is in a danger zone (right next to overlapping themers again). And I have a theory about ALAE, which is that it's also a victim of theme pressure—my hypothesis is that STP was supposed to be a themer. That this grid was designed to have STP there, in the crossing center position. Then perhaps the editor was like "that's a really weak themer, let's pretend it's not one" but then didn't have constructors rework the grid. How else to explain the fact that it's an answer that goes from S to P, in a totally acceptable theme position, that is yet unstarred? This means ALAE is sitting smack between two very theme-dense areas, which would explain its existence. Otherwise, how in the world do you end up with ***ing ALAE in your Monday puzzle?

The clue on SLAP is disturbing on several levels. It's the syntactic level that bugs me most, though. "Action on a behind" is such odd, inelegant, creepy phrasing. Otherwise, cluing seems fine. Just dull.

SALARY CAP, STUTTER STEP, STOCK TIP … you could go on and on. But please don't. Let's just leave this be and move on.

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comments:

The theme kept me guessing until the end, after it turned out we weren't talking about hockey (SLAP shot, STANLEY CUP). Even with the reveal, I had to STOP and think for a minute before I saw the S TO P spans. So for me a nice combination of an easy puzzle with a hard-to-see theme. Liked it.

Zhouqin Burnikel's puzzles generally aren't to my taste (and apparently this is a debut for Dennis Ryall), so I was a little surprised to find I generally liked this. I don't expect anything remarkable out of Monday themes, focusing on whether the themers are solid and unforced, and these fit the bill. There's definitely some strained fill, and a very un-Monday crossing with ROC/OAKIE (not sure why the latter was clued as it was on a Monday; that was a late-week type of clue), but overall this was a fairly good Monday.

Got to love a Monday with SKINNY DIP and SKI TRIP (with a YETI!), SUMMER CAMP, EROS and that old ALFA ROMEO... Just wanted to POINT AT the PORTALS in this simple little puzzle. It replayed nicely in my mind to the Stone's "Start Me Up", thanks Rex!

To way or not to way...I prefer the latter. (hi @chefwen)Is there an S and P grocery store?... and why does BETTE spell her name that way? SKIT RIP is the only way to visit Vail with a bunch of OAKIEs. YET I made an EROS at LIL ol SUPS because I always eatS my dinner.

Agree with easy assessment. Very fast time "for me". I liked the theme answers a lot even though I did not get the theme until I was done. Cluing skewed pretty old. Could have mad USHER the entertainer and still been a Monday clue.

Did BETTE Davis, as Charlotte Vale in Now, Voyager, take a SKITRIP to Vail?

@NCA Pres...the only legitimate excuse in our household for not jumping up to attend to some critical chore is "I have a cat in my lap!" Venus, in particular, PURRS when you simply enter the room in which she is curled up.

I must admit that the puzzle theme was a meh, though like @jisvan, enjoyed the full. I missed out on the fun, though, when the OILPAN in my ALFA dropped out on the way there.

I, too, have a cat purring on my lap. My solve time was adversely affected by her presence, as she makes it difficult to type on the iPad. Pretty much agree with ol' Rex on this one. I loved seeing ALFAROMEO. What a name. What cars! So very quirky and Italian.

Probably in my top three puzzles by Ms. Burnikel. Like @Steve J, for whatever reason I've never been a huge fan. Lots of people love her puzzles and she does get published quite a bit (I see her byline on the LATX quite frequently). Not that I have any any huge complaints about her puzzles, just not my cup of tea. Congrats to Mr. Ryall on the debut.

STP leapt* out at me. A feature or a bug? I like it. Leave out the asterisks and let us decide what the themers are, I say. Seriously aren't all the themers in traditional themer positions? So why the asterisks?

Regarding asterisks, the NYT often does that on Mondays. An awful lot of casual and/or new solvers don't realize that puzzles have themes - let alone where traditional theme positions are - so they're often marked in some way first thing in the week.

In this case, having everything asterisked didn't help or interfere with the theme anyway, at least for me. I still had to stop and parse the revealer after I finished the puzzle to finally suss out the connection.

@Steve J - Maybe I'm misremembering (mind like a steel sieve and all) but I thought the asterisks were mostly reserved for themers that were hidden in some way. I guess here SLAP is a bit non-traditional placement.

@Billy C - Joking? If not, I thougt that canard had died a righteous death.

@Slap - But where did that cliché come from? Did someone pull it out of thin air or did Obs once do that?

Ha! S &H Green Stamps! @Carola, you are correct. Sorry @jberg!I remember getting them at the grocery store, then affixing them to the books!Ah, good times.That was also when $100 bought our family of four a weeks worth of groceries, which included food, snacks, toiletries, lunch stuff, laundry stuff...Now your lucky to get 1/4 of that with $100.

It was a fortuitous happenstance that the entire grid was framed by SEAS and PEEP, giving an additional hint to the S-TO-P theme.

This puzzle was not a SweatshoP creation that needed any StopgaP measures. It was more pleasant than a SpinaltaP -- thank goodness it wasn't tossed onto the ScrapheaP of Cruciverbia. It ShoweduP what can happen when one StrikesuP a creative cooperation under CC's StewardshiP. It was nicer than any puzzle by Michael SharP ever constructed. It did not StumP me at any time, and I did not need a StirruP to prod me to its SuccessfulwrapuP, or a SpaceshiP to propel me to its SteeP Summit's toP covered by a SnowcaP. It did not SidesteP any issues, it wasn't covered by SaranwraP, and it didn't need a SunlamP to give it color. To SumuP, solving it was a SnaP, but it had SomeziP to it. Great fun, SouP to nuts.

Thank you, DR. CC.

Here is the proem to the lovely opera Venus and Adonis by English baroque composer John BLOW (1649-1708).

SUPS dudes and dudettes? Does an EMU have ALAE? Hand up for thinking STP, being that it's centrally located & crosses another centrally located themer and all, shoulda been a themer too.

I believe ALFA ROMEO is importing a new model to the U.S. for the first time in many years.

Not to single out today's "Oops, I meant..." comments (it happens regularly), but OFF to the right of the "Publish Your Comments" button is the "Preview" button. My pedantic, graded-a-bajillion-essay-exams-before-I-retired side compels me to always use it. Usually, but not always, this saves me from having to do a second post to correct the first. There, I said it. Hope I don't need to SOOTHE anyone's feelings.

@John Child: Thanks for the captcha info, hope I don't let Google down...@Tita: I may have had that Alfa! Red? Leather seats? Ours was a Berlina, not very sexy, but it gave a certain cosmopolitan air to the yard, where it was often up on blocks...Happy Monday. We will not be talking about the drought in California for a while :-)

First was used '59 TR3, bought in '65. Spent more on repairs in 2 years than on the original purchase price.

So then I traded in on a brand-spanning-new TR4a. It spent the last 6 months of my college career in the garage of our rented house. Finally had to fix the tranny in order to move it out. Dropped the tranny myself, took it to the repair shop where it was fixed, then reinstalled it.

Promptly sold the TR, bought a Chevy Impala. Ugly car, but it worked for 5 years, problem-free, until I traded it.

@onelook: har. Like the way U think. Now... if only U could give me a symmetric set of themers...

p.s. Don't want all U nice folks to come away with the impression that everybody present at my birth was bein mean. Uncle Zeke said there was just a lot of onfusion about which end was which. But I digress.

@NCA President: I heard once that "son of a gun" referred to babies born on British gunships, when women were still allowed on board. I looked it up and apparently it is possibly true, but also may not be.

@Anoa Bob - My feelings are fine. Siri, on the other hand, is P!$$ed. Seriously, if it doesn't change my meaning much I ignore my errors. I used to correct my errors, but decided that was a bit much for a comments section. I do proof read, but often still don't catch my errors until I see my comment in my email. This is the reason God created copy editors for important stuff.

@Billy C - The canard I was referring to was the idea of not splitting one's infinitives. It appears we are on the same page, except this may be one of the many Churchill sayings Churchill didn't say.

We just tried out Detroit's new Hopcat. The "crack fries" are over-rated, but the beer menu is extensive, the burgers above average, and the music is all Motown (ABC by the Jackson Five is a great song with an outstanding Bass Guitar). If I ever host a Crossword Competition this will be the location. We'll have to go from hard to easy, though, because nobody will be doing a Saturday level by the end of the day.

Ahhh, the good old days. I have fond memories, @jberg, @carola and @roomonster, of licking the backs of S&H green stamps Mom and I accumulated grocery shopping, carefully placing them in the paperback booklets to exchange them for cooool gifts from a giant catalog after we had a big stack ready to redeem.

Factoid: Co. was founded in 1896 by Thomas Sperry of Cranford, NJ, my hometown, and SB Hutchinson of Ypsilanti, MI. When I was growing up in the '60s, the Sperry family still lived in one of the most beautiful homes in town, right along the river.

@Carola, @Ludyjynn. @jberg, @roo...We still have things that my mom acquired, with my pasting help, from both S&H and Blue stamps.

@jisvan - My ALFA was actually a Fiat 850 Spider - loooked a lot like the ALFA, except for all the rust. Oh - ant the horsepower. Sure was fun for driving to the beach, back in the S&H Green Stamps days!

On the topic of Previews...If I notice a mistake or two, and care enough to fix it, I just copy my whole comment, paste it into a new one and correct it, then delete the original one.I don't do this often, because I know that y'all forgive me my trespasses.

@Z, from a few days ago - thanks for the fabulous trick of using Preview as a way to avoid having to enter the captcha. Like I've said ad nauseum, I was happy to be part of the crowd who was crowdsourcing to improve the Gutenberg project, intended to get out-of-copyright books scanned and e=published for free.But I really resent the current practice, which is giving google free crowd labor for address data they resell.

What a wonderful and a straight forward spell caster that has brought back joy and happiness into my life after i saw a post on how he helped a lady called Nicole Morgan; i decided to contact him for help, when i told this God sent man Dr Eboehi on how my lover left me for 2 years without calling nor texting me, When i shared this my sad experience with Dr Eboehi he said everything would be okay within 3 days i was like am i sure what this man is saying is real, So i decided to give him a try and at first i was thinking he was a scam and i taught he was like other spell casters who come online to add pain to people's life not knowing there feelings but to make money, this great man Dr Eboehi is never like that because he is for good and to make people happy with the one they love, am just so happy, Even before the 3 days i just got a call from a man who has left me for 2 years saying that he his sorry and that he wants me back to his life i was so happy, He invited me for a dinner which i met with him there and we both talked, he said he wants to prove that he would never leave me for any other lady he engaged me and also made me had access to all his account am so happy all thanks goes to this great man Dr Eboehi a man who has brought back joy to my life, friends that need help in getting their lover's back i would advice you contact Dr Eboehi via email: eboehispellcaster@gmail.com because he is the right man to help you get your problem solved.

Hi there, Stacy! We misseed you the last few days--but we're practicing to improve our aim.

To the puzz. I think I'll coin a new word: Mondayne. Soon I fear I may join @I skip M-W and just do the lateweeks. The rest is so much fluff. Today, though, I did note the bonus theme of SEAS to PEEP, adding a badly needed extra layer.

Question: why the question mark in the hockey clue? Just because of the two meanings of "goal?" Not enough. The Cup is always the goal, the dream...Nirvana.

EPEE = going 1 online?Was LUCKY enough to be ABLE to SKINNYDIP with several members of my ex-wife's softball team around TENPM one hot summer night. They kept me BUSY. Still occasinally get reminded of it. Fun factor of this puz was a LIL OFF, bot OK for Moon.@Spacey - like the Mondayne concept. Well put.